The present invention relates to hybrid communication networks and more particularly to network problem management in an hybrid communication system architecture.
The current telecommunication service providers"" networks reflect the architecture of the PSTN network as it has evolved over the last 100 years. This is largely based on circuit switched technologies. Initially, all telecommunication services were offered via a wired infrastructure. As the user-base increased and requirements changed over the last few decades, new types of services were created e.g. wireless PSTN, cable video, multi-service (PSTN, video, satellite). The networks that supported these services were created as parallel networks, along-side the existing PSTN network. As technologies matured, there was some convergence (e.g. they shared the same SONET backbone) in the network architecture. During the late 1980s, with the explosion of data networking and Internet, data networking networks like frame relay and ATM were developed, and later large internet based data networks were constructed in parallel with the existing PSTN infrastructure. These data networks again shared the PSTN infrastructure only at the SONET backbone layer. This state of current networks is called the existing xe2x80x9cCorexe2x80x9d. Thus the xe2x80x9cCorexe2x80x9d network is a set of parallel networks; PSTN, wireless, satellite, cable, ATM, frame relay, IP. There is some interoperability between the services on these parallel network (e.g. PSTN, and wireless), but generally these networks are vertically integrated to provide distinct set of non-interoperable services.
According to a broad aspect of a preferred embodiment of the invention, a Service Level Management is provided. First, a notification of a service level problem within a combination packet-switching and circuit-switching hybrid network is received by the system. Second, a service level agreement is retrieved and the service level problem is checked against the service level agreement to determine if the service level agreement has been met. The notification of the service level problem is then prioritized with a second notification of a second service level problem based on a number of times the service level agreement has not been met. If the service level agreement has not been met, a resolution for the problem within the hybrid network is determined. The resolution may include a status report, resolution notification, problem reports, service reconfiguration, trouble notification, service level agreement violations, and/or outage notification. The progress of the implementation of the resolution is tracked. Finally, the hybrid network is managed based on the future predicted behavior of the hybrid network.